Excel Tips

Excel 2024: Simultaneously Edit a Workbook in Microsoft 365 »

March 7, 2024

After Google's spreadsheet product began offering the ability for multiple people to edit the same worksheet, the Excel team spent over two years developing a feature that they call co-authoring. The feature was released to Office 365 customers in the summer of 2017.

Excel 2024: Show Changes From Last 60 Days »

March 5, 2024

The Show Changes feature debuted in June 2021. For any workbook that is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint Online, Excel is tracking every change to the workbook. Changes are saved for 60 days.

Excel 2024: Search While Using File Open »

March 4, 2024

When you choose File, Open, Excel will show you a list of recently opened workbooks. The size of this list is controlled by File, Options, Advanced, Display. The maximum numbers of recent workbooks or folders is 50.

Excel 2024: Recover Unsaved Workbooks »

February 29, 2024

The Auto Recover feature is a lifesaver. It is turned on automatically in Excel 2010 and newer.

Excel 2024: Use Default Settings for All Future Workbooks »

February 28, 2024

In a few minutes, you can teach Excel your favorite settings. Then, every time you create a new workbook with Ctrl+N or insert a new worksheet, the worksheet will inherit all of your favorite settings.

Excel 2024: Fast Worksheet Copy »

February 26, 2024

You can right-click any sheet tab and choose Move or Copy to make a copy of a worksheet. But that is the very slow way to copy a worksheet. The fast way: Hold down the Ctrl key and drag the worksheet tab to the right.

Excel 2024: The Fill Handle Does Know 1, 2, 3… »

February 22, 2024

Why does the Excel Fill Handle pretend it does not know how to count 1, 2, 3? The Fill Handle is great for filling months, weekdays, quarters, and dates. Why doesn't it know that 2 comes after 1?

Excel 2024: Total the Visible Rows »

February 20, 2024

After you've applied a filter, say that you want to see the total of the visible cells.

Excel 2024: Filter by Selection »

February 17, 2024

The filter dropdowns have been in Excel for decades, but there are two faster ways to filter. Most people select a cell in the data, choose Data, Filter, open the dropdown menu on a column heading, uncheck Select All, and scroll through a long list of values, trying to find the desired item.